That Summer in Paris: Memories of Tangled Friendships with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Some Others

Canadian writer Morley Callaghan was a 20-year-old student who had talked his way onto the reporting staff of the Toronto Star when a star war correspondent named Ernest Hemingway came on board. Hemingway knew another writer by instinct and took the younger man under his wing, continuing to advise and advocate for him after decamping to Paris. Thanks to Hemingway's letters of introduction, Callaghan had begun publishing and lusting after the utopian writers' community he envisioned the Paris of the Lost Generation to be. Finally, in the spring of 1929, he and his bride Loretto took off for France where things were slightly different than expected. Thirty years later, a photographer who had recently met Hemingway in Idaho relayed that Hemingway had recalled Callaghan rather fondly, especially a boxing match they had, with Fitzgerald as timekeeper. The message casually relayed by the photographer unleashed powerful memories of that pivotal summer and the result is this book. Callaghan looked forward to the camaraderie of Hemingway, Joyce, Fitzgerald and the others. He was eager to talk literature, debate one another's work in a like-minded group and draw creative energy from its air. Instead, Hemingway seemed to value their friendship most when the short, fat Callaghan was expertly challenging him in the boxing ring. Hemingway was avoiding the café culture and especially an old friend, Fitzgerald. Callaghan ended up meeting Fitzgerald, Joyce and Hemingway's first publisher, Robert McAlmon, on his own. He and his wife enjoyed the lifestyle all the same but sensed change in the air. As someone observed, the Lost Generation was no longer lost. It had found an anchor in Paris and grown quickly into so many famous names. American tourists were traveling to Paris to gawk at them. Zelda Fitzgerald was on the psychotic edge; Hemingway had left one marriage for another. That Summer in Paris reads like a well-constructed novel. The boxing match Hemingway would remember thirty years later becomes the climax, after which everyone begins moving on. Callaghan muses on the irony of how quickly the players would change: the stock market crash took away the world of which Fitzgerald wrote with authority, Hemingway and others who had never been particularly political would become involved in political causes and New York would take over as the intellectual center that Paris had been. This is an interesting account not only of the end of the Lost Generation in Paris but a meditation on the role of community in a writer's life and one man's opinion of his peers and what art is and is not. This does not compete with A Moveable Feast; it is a valuable first-hand account by an insider of the end of the era Hemingway's memoir more fully chronicles. A note about this edition: There is no critical introduction but someone clobbered together book club discussion questions, some of which are okay and some of which reveal certain biases behind them.

If you enjoyed A Moveable Feast then you will appreciate Callaghan's That Summer in Paris even more. Callaghan has a terrific writing style that makes for a painless and enjoyable read though it is definitely for the fan of the Paris in the twenties crowd. The book is filled with anecdotes pertaining to the great writers of the 20th Century such as Hemingway, Lewis, Fitzgerald, Joyce, Etc. Etc. Callaghan captures the darker and more fragile side of genius. Do yourself a favor and read this one, it'll stay with any true fan of the "lost generation".

Callaghan met Hemingway when they both worked for the Toronto Star. Hemingway wnet to Paris and Callaghan did too, in 1929. This book tells what Callaghan did, besides write. He doesn't say much about his writing but tells of his times with Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and others. It is not too momentous, but it throws another light on what Samuel Putnam had to say in his 1947 book Paris Was Our Mistress. 1929 was an idyllic time for Callaghan and the other Americans in Paris, tho I am not sure they knew it.

I had never heard of Morley Callghan before reading this book. Which is unfortunate because the book is hard to put down. It is well-written, informative, amusing, thought provoking and gives insight into several notable literary figures from a first hand perspective.

That Summer in Paris by Morley Callaghan is another version of Hemingway in Paris which is probably a lot closer to the truth. If you need or want to know the truth, read this book. Hemingway sure made a seductive myth about himself. We don't fault him for improving on the truth. The Hemingway version is fun to read but this one is fun too. By the way, Callaghan wrote an outstanding short story called "Luke Baldwin's Vow." You can see why Hemingway thought highly of him.